Everything about Portland Can Be Summed Up with Doughnuts

Locals struggle to define our town, pointing to TV shows, bike paths, and construction cranes. But to understand the city as it grows and changes, just look to our sweetest cultural export. Here’s how three wildly popular—but radically different—doughnut shops exemplify clashing and contrasting aspects of Portland’s essential soul.

Rallying cry: Keep Portland Weird(er)Territories: 6.5—two shops (and a cart) in PDX, plus Eugene, Denver, Austin, and Taipei City, Taiwan Mode: Thirteen years in, the cruddy pink Old Town shop that performs weddings and infamously once glazed its product with NyQuil defines the Portland Weird brand for outsiders. Owners Tres Shannon and Cat Daddy’s doughnuts aren’t always the best ... but that’s beside the point. “We wanted to open a place that was, ‘Oh, that’s so Portland,’ where anything can happen while you’re waiting in line,” remembers Cat Daddy.Flagship doughnut: Tourists pose with stale bacon maple bars, but the Oreo, peanut butter, and chocolate–topped Old Dirty Bastard is a legit treat. Ideal eater: Out-of-towners, kids at heart, friends who say they “liked the first album the best”Future: Cat Daddy hopes to spawn more Voodoos in other “kooky” cities like Minneapolis and Nashville: “We want to plant a seed and watch Voodoo become part of the community.”

Rallying cry: #communitynotcompetitionTerritories: 1.5—Northeast Portland shop and mobile truck Ethos: Small is beautiful at this earnest doughnut experience—walls hand-painted to mimic high desert skies, impromptu guitar performances from employees. Owners Jamie and Nate Snell actually built generosity into their business plan: Pip’s partners with nonprofits and other businesses, and gives employees an extra $30 per paycheck earmarked for charitable giving. “I’ve based a lot of our self-worth on giving to people,” Nate Snell says.Flagship doughnut: Addictive honey-drizzled, sea salt–sprinkled mini, fried to orderIdeal eaters: Families of good taste, ’90s indie purists, Instagram addictsFuture: After three busy years, the Snells still bypass franchise offers in favor of birthing more Pip’s trucks and bottling the killer house chai. “We’re not a cookie-cutter business,” Snell says. “I want Pip’s to be an institution.”